The balcony that gave Balcony House its name is the small balcony between the first and second story of the building shown in the photo above, not the large plaza area in the foreground that is often assumed to be the balcony.

Ranger teaches group about the Kivas

The one-hour Balcony House tour is one of the most intimate yet adventurous tours at Mesa Verde. A visit to Balcony House will challenge your fear of ladders, heights, and small spaces, and will give you the opportunity to explore the common areas of a mid-sized, 40-room dwelling.

The Balcony House tour requires visitors to descend a 100 foot staircase into the canyon; climb a 32 foot ladder; crawl through a 12 foot, 18 inches wide tunnel; and clamber up an additional 60 feet on ladders and stone steps.

A prospector, S. E. Osborn, first entered Balcony House in the spring of 1884. His name and the date March 20, 1884, have been found in a dwelling in lower Soda Canyon. In a newspaper article published late in 1886, Osborn describes some of the sites he visited in the Mesa Verde in 1883- 1884. One of the descriptions is very similar to that of Balcony House. There is little doubt that he entered it.

Jesse Nusbaum excavated Balcony House in 1910. Nusbaum was not only an accomplished archeologist, he was also one of the first superintendents of Mesa Verde National Park.  -NPS

 Acadia NP|Adams NHS|Agate Fossil Beds NM|Agua Fria NM|Arches NP|Badlands NP|Bandelier NM|Big Bend NP|Big Cypress NP|Big Hole NB|Big Thicket NP|Biscayne NP|Black Canyon of Gunnison NP|Boston NHP|Bryce Canyon NP|Cabrillo NM|Canyon de Chelly NM|Canyonlands NP|Canyon of the Ancients NM|Cape Cod NS|Capitol Reef NP|Capulin Volcano NM|Carlsbad Caverns NP|Carrizo Plain NM|Casa Grande NM |Cascade-Siskiyou NM|Cedar Breaks NM|Chaco Canyon NHP|Chamizal NM|Channel Islands NP|Chickamauga & Chattanooga NMP|Chimney Rock NHS|Chiricahua NM||City of Rocks NP|Colorado NM|Congaree NP|Coronado NM|Crater Lake NP|Craters of the Moon NM|Cuyahoga Valley NP|Death Valley NP|Devil's Post Pile NM|Devil's Tower NM|Dinosaur NM|Ebey's Landing NHR|Edison NHS|El Malpais NM|El Morro NM|Eugene O'Neill NHS|Everglades NP|Fire Island NS|Flaming Gorge NRA|Florissant Fossil Beds NM|Fort Bowie NM|Fort Laramie NHS|Fort Larnard NHS|Fort Pulaski|Fort Union NM|Fort Vancouver NHS|Fossil Butte NM|Glacier NP|Glen Canyon NRA|Golden Gate NRA|Golden Spike NHS|Grand Canyon NP|Grand Canyon/Parashant NM|Grand Teton NP|Giant Sequoia NM|Gila Cliff Dwellings NM|Glacier NP|Grand Staircase/Escalante NM|Great Basin N P|Grand Portage NM|Great Sand Dunes NP|Great Smokey Mountains NP|Guadalupe Mountains NP|Hagerman Fossil Bed NM|Hanford Reach NM|Hells Canyon NRA|Hohokam-Pima NM|Hot Springs NP|Hovenweep NM|Hubble Trading Post NHS|John F Kennedy NHS|Ironwood NM|John Day Fossil Bed NM|John Muir NHS|Joshua Tree NP|Kings Canyon NP|Klondike Gold Rush NHP|Lake Mead NRA|Lake Roosevelt NRA|Lassen NP|Lava Beds NM|Lewis and Clark NHP|Lincoln Home NHS|Lyndon B Johnson NHP|Little Big Horn NM|Longfellow NHS|Mojave NP|Mammoth Cave NP|Manzanar NM|Martin Luther King NHS|Mesa Verde NP|Minidoka Internment NM|Montezuma Castle NM|Mount Rainier NP|Mount Rushmore NM|Mount St. Helens NM|Muir Woods NM|Natural Bridges NM|Navajo NM|Newberry Volcanic NM|Nez Perce NHP|North Cascades NP|Ocmulgee NM|Olympic NP|Fredrick Law Olmsted NHS|Oregon Caves NM|Organ Pipe Cactus NM|Padre Island NS|Palo Alto Battlefield NHS|Pecos NHP|Petrified Forest NP|Pinnacles NM|Pipe Spring NM|Pipestone NM|Point Reyes NS|Port of Chicago NM|Redwood NP|Rocky Mountain NP|Rosie the Riveter NHP|Sagamore Hill NHS|Saguaro NP|Salem Maritime NHS|Salinas Pueblo Missions NM|San Antonio Missions NHP|San Francisco Maritime NHP| San Juan Island NHP|San Juan NHP|Santa Monica Mountains NRA|Santa Rosa - San Jacinto Mountains NM|Saugus Iron Works NHS|Scott's Bluff NM|Sequoia NP|Shenandoah NP|Sonora Desert NM|Sunset Crater NM|Theodore Roosevelt NP|Timpanogos Cave NM|Tonto NM|Tuzigoot NM|Valles Caldera NP|Vermillion Cliffs NM|Voyageurs NP|Walnut Canyon NM|Weir Farm NHS|White Sands NM|Whitman Mission NM|Wind Cave NP|Wupatki NM|Yellowstone NP|Yosemite NP|Yucca House NM|Zion NP

More Photographs by Steve: Antelope Canyon|Monument Valley

National Park Lover Home Page

Copyright © 1995 - 2007 Steve Schmorleitz. All rights reserved.
Revised: June 24, 2008.
Contact Steve Schmorleitz for approval of photo usage.